


Good people are Victorious

by AwesomeHeart



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Fatherly Joker, Marinette breaks down, Marinette daughter of Joker, Motherly Ivy, Tikki is a plant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:00:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28723989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwesomeHeart/pseuds/AwesomeHeart
Summary: After getting in touch with her real father and getting a chance to turn Lila into a truther. Things just spiral from there for the ex Ladybug.But hey! She has always been resourceful. She'll make things work.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 88





	Good people are Victorious

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Gotham's Puppet Princess](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28511184) by [Spirit_of_chaotic_dreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spirit_of_chaotic_dreams/pseuds/Spirit_of_chaotic_dreams). 



> I had a creepy dream of Marinette breaking down an ends up torturing Lila infront of her classmates with the help of the Joker. This then lead to this being written out as the aftermath of that. 
> 
> So thanks for the inspo Spirit_of_chaotic_dreams. Thanks for the dream!

Arkham city was for the criminally insane and run by a corrupt man that loved to test on humans. The man loved what he did and looked forward to each day that he was closer to having the perfect specimen to make his own line of genetics that improved a perfect human. He smiled broadly the day a small sprite of an ex parisian heroine was sent to his city. Having apparently gone mad by her classmates only to mutilate a ‘liar’ in front of them. The tongue removal was a nice touch if he said so himself. Having done some himself to keep people quiet. 

He waited nearly two years before coming face to face with her. The young woman had been resourceful, an impressive prowess and a mind that potentially could rival that of the annoying brats the Batman keeps surrounding himself with. Maybe, he dared hope, would be on par with The Bat himself. Now that sent a tingle down his spine as he watched the girl invade capture of his men. He frowned a little as it was proving tricky to catch her. Her new moniker, Trixter, proved true in all aspects. 

Finding out that she was a spawn of the Joker didn’t deter him from his mission. It only proved his hypothesis more that this girl would lead him to victory against The Batman. He just needed to get his hands on her first. Dr Strange glanced up at his screens that surrounded him in one eighty vision, the creepiest smile appeared on his face as he continued to watch. “Soon my dear.”

\-----

Marinette grumbled to herself as she searched the TYGER guards for resources she could use. Medical syringes, bandages, pistols, their bullets, shock batons and flash grenades were plucked off of their unconscious bodies and into her oversized satchel. Once done she picked up the smg and shot each of the guards dead.

She growled when she heard the whirring of drones above and made sure to take them out as well before tossing the gun. Happy enough with her loot she doubled checked she had what she needed as she walked away. Staying in one place was a no no that she had learned the hard way in the beginning. Nowadays it was easier as over the two years word spread that she was the daughter of Joker and no one wanted to be on his bad side, currently speaking. That and she was easier to handle in a social interaction than her old man. 

Sighing, she wondered about the wrecked streets as she walked by Ivy’s residence. Slowly and gently she ran her hands over the vines and felt welcomed when they curled around her fingers and pulled her their way. She allowed herself to be pulled onto the property and rode the large leaves as they elevated her towards Ivy’s cocoon of petals. She smiled pleasantly as the green skinned lady came into view. “Hello Ivy, how is everything here?” 

Ivy’s eyes brightened at the sight of the young woman in front of her. No longer timid and standing so confidently in herself made Ivy proud to have a hand in it. Ivy ran her hand through Marinette’s hair. She much rather that Marinette had gone down the red hair route instead of the dark green route she took to have some similarity with that man but she learned to live with it. “All is well here petal, thanks to your little green thumb my babies have been thriving. Owh and your little Tikki plant is near blooming it seems.”

Marinette beamed at that. She had been so worried that the plant that she had created wasn’t going to survive. As homage to the little kwami that had been there for her when others weren’t she made the plant in her name. It was just a bit poorly to begin with till she brought the seedling to Ivy. “Thank you so much for looking after her.”

“It’s been a pleasure.” Ivy stepped back and beckoned the girl to follow her. They took a further two steps then they were lifted upwards by another leaf to the rooftop of the three tiered greenhouse. The leaf dropped them off to the side were the vines and flowers made they’re on alcove that house Marinette’s little plant. The vines shifted in a way that it looked like it was always ready to pounce on anyone that would try to hurt the special plant. 

“Wow…” Marinette carefully walked forward, respecting the nature around her as she knelt in front of the delicate spindly vines that created the table that her plant sat upon. Lightly she reached out to touch the little petal of the small plant. Tears reached her eyes as the plant reacted to her with tentative touches, She giggled as the huge bud that was too big to be held up by the small steam turned to her, reminding her exactly of Tikki’s kwami body “Hey Tiks”

The bud blossomed then to the sound of her voice. The petals unfurled and Marinette could see that it was crossed with a cosmo and a marigold. In the middle was dusted with black freckles like a ladybug, the main body of the petals starting from the center outwards was pale pink bordered by a deep burgundy red. The petals twitched as Marinette stroked them and seemed to follow her hand looking for more that had her giggling again.

Marinette tilted her head towards Ivy with the biggest smile on her face. “Thank you so much for caring for her.”

“No worries. She’s been a delight to talk too.” Ivy sauntered forward and kneeled on her haunches. she held her own hand out so that the little Tikki plant could scent her as well. “She has told me of the marvelous adventures that had been had by a ladybug swinging around Paris with a black cat.”

Marinette froze at that. She didn’t know she had delved that deep in her memories of Tikki to give her plant life that it imprinted that much into it. She stuttered. “I…”

“Shh pretty petal.” Ivy laid her hand gently upon the ex heroine’s head and soothed her like she does her plants. She smiled sadly but knowingly. “Even the strongest of people breaks. What happened to you was horrible and I don’t blame you for what happened after. I would have done the same if not worse if I was in your shoes. That class deserved so much worse for what they did to you yet you still held back from hurting them all and just went after the source of your pain.”

She sniffled as the tears started to flow. Two years ago she refused to cry for them, two years ago she arrived here and refused to cry for what happened, but now she let those tears fall for how lost she felt. She had defeated Hawkmoth. Paris had rejoiced for her and Chat Noir. Adrien had revealed he was Chat Noir to clear his name and was praised for making the tough choice of going against his father, even though people spoke of him as a villain behind his back. All due to one Rossi running her mouth. Marinette was still the favoured target but she snapped after losing Tikki. That last bit of support was gone and she was so.. so… so tired of being good. One plan later and she had been turning all the lies that Rossi spouted into truth in front of her classmates in the middle of a hostage situation in Gotham City. Her Bio dad had been so proud of the chaos she had caused that day. Taking the tongue had been so satisfying as the horror was in Rossi’s eyes even when they rolled back into her head from the pain. 

She glanced at one of her most trusted confidants. tears still streaming down her face. “I’m so tired Ivy.”

“I know… I know.” Ivy took the still small girl into her arms and held her close. “Soon things will be better. Once Tikki is a little bigger we’ll inact your plan. It might be a bit tough for a bit longer, but it’ll be for the better okay Petal. We are all behind you.” 

Marinette nodded her head as she continued to cry into Ivy’s neck but she felt all the better for it. Soon. Soon. They’ll be out from under Strange’s thumb and then. Then they can heal.

\-----

She left at daybreak the next morning with promises to visit again with something for Tikki and some baked goods for Ivy. 

Thankfully as the sun broke the horizon that there weren't many of the TYGER guards loitering around looking to put bullets into people. She jumped over damaged cars, potholed roads and rotting corpses that the cannibals had got bored off. With a look around she hopped, skipped and flipped her way to the top of the tallest building, that wasn’t wonder tower, within the prisoned city. It was just tall enough that she could look over the talls walls and view what little skyline of Gotham City she could. She was surprised to see a vigilante straying a bit too close to Arkham and it made her wary for what was to come. 

She let herself fall backwards off of the building to correct herself halfway to jump the rest of the way down in the direction of her so-called home. She held on tightly to her bad as she walked up to the hidden entrance only known by her and made her way inside. 

The place was near silent, the gears of old toys tearing and tinkling of a music box interrupted the quiet. She could hear the chainsaw snores of her father one room over and was surprised to see Punch and Judy already preparing breakfast. She gave them a friendly wave which they returned with happy smiles. She was glad to see that the duo picked up a hobby while in a place like this. “I’m going to go wash and organise what I brought back. So back in ten?”

The duo nodded and went back to their cooking seemily pleased with what she said.

She found it hard at times to speak to them but their intentions were always good in nature, atwithleast when it concerned her father and by extension herself. Walking away from the makeshift kitchen, Marinette walked by her fathers room to see the man sprawled out on the bed. It amused her each time that she walked past that Her father decided to imitate Howl’s bedroom, but with joke trinkets, prank toys, and clown memorabilia. The only thing that was out of place was the portrait of Batman on the wall with a jokeresque smile. With a small fond smile she left to the end of the hallway to drag down the ladder for her room.

Once up she stomped the floor a certain way for the ladder to retract and she was in the privacy of her room once more. Partially painted walls, broken but usable furniture dotted around the room and decorated mannequins. She walked to one side of the room, flicked a switch that turned the wall around to reveal her stash of goods; Pistols, ammo, medical surplus, a variety of grenades and chemicals to make into laugh bombs. She also had a supply of trick toys/traps just to keep in theme with her father but she really did enjoy making them.

Tricking and trapping akuma’s had been her foretay afterall. 

She just had finished placing the ammo in trays when her floor was knocked on. She flicked the switch and the room was back to normal when she went back to her trap door. She peered down the open door to see the Joker holding a broom with the biggest grin on his face that wasn’t filled with plans of villainy. “Hey pops!”

“Doll face! come down here and give your old man a hug!” He held his arms out expecting her to fall into them. It took a moment but she had jumped down and he spun themselves around when he caught her. “Ah that’s the good stuff! You have a good scrapping night?”

“Eh could be better.” She pulled away enough to get him to settle her on the ground but still held on tight. “Strange has been messing with some of the guards DNA again that they are getting uglier by the day. Managed to get one up on them, yet again, so that's another six or seven out for count.”

“That’s my girl!” He ruffled her hair ruffle causing her to squeak and him laugh. “Now you tell me all the nitty gritty over breakfast alright but go wash up. You got some of that plant women's pheromones stink on ya and it is bugging up my nose.”

“Gotcha. Be a few.” Marinette giggled as she skipped away to the bathroom to wash up quickly. She wasn’t sure but since she got friendly with Ivy there has been a family kind of rivalry going on. She was kinda curious how Harley would react to her, Ivy had promised to introduce her and her father got pouty over the idea and refused. Once clean she got back to the kitchen to see Judy plating up and Punch took their plates to another room to eat so that she and Joker could have privacy. 

“So Dollface…” Joker chewed uncharacteristically thoughtful as he stared at his daughter. Since she was in his life for two years the madness had lessened on his mind but it still kept a tight hold as old habits die hard. Some died harder than others since his obsession with getting one over the Batman stayed constant. “How close are we?”

Marinette took a moment to get what he ment but it clicked when she saw building schematics on the table with detailed bullet points. “Close. A week at best, a month at worse but it shouldn’t take any longer than that.”

“Excellent!” He chuckled at that as he scoffed down some more of the pancakes. He slurped down some orange juice and finished with a loud gasp of satisfaction. “That old geezer of a scientist won't know what hit him!”

“I’m guessing you’re happy enough with your part of the plan?”

“Of course! I get to toy with Batsy and his munchkins. A Match made in Heaven and your little creative brain has made my part in this a delight!” He rubbed his hands joyfully. “Owh the look that he’s gonna have on his face when he’s realised that's something wrong. ooh ooh ooooh it’s gonna be good.”

She snorted at that and matched his joyful smile. “Remember maximum chaos, minimum damage, confusion is the main goal there.” 

“Such a spoilsport! But i’m a fair old man and shall play by your rules. But if they walk into the bomb, it is not my fault!” 

“Right, not your fault.” She tilted her head as her eyes lightened in challenge. “Bet he’ll find all your joke teeth though.”

“Owh how dare! I only put them in the most elusive of..” He stopped when she put a pile of them onto the table with a grin. “Spots. Okay you have got to stop doing that.”

She laughed wholeheartedly as he pulled the teeth to him all pouty. Finding out that he had been her father was terrifying to begin with but once she snapped she could understand a little even though she disapproved of his methods most of the time and what he had done to Harley. Though his chaotic mind was just what she needed at the time and it was just what she needed to be more attuned to Plaggs kingdom. Even though she only met the chaotic kwami a handful of times, she felt a kinship with him.

“Ah shut up with ya laughing and eat the pancakes.” He scowled though it didn’t last long as he was feeling playful and proud to make his daughter laugh. That little bit of warmth he got whenever she laughed truly didn’t make him feel like such a bad guy after all. 

\-----

It wasn’t often that she used the powers that were gifted to her by the kwami’s before they left. Their thought process was, hey you had a hard life because of us so here you go. Turning things to ash wasn’t so difficult to control as she first thought when it happened. Recreating it was a bit more difficult but she got that down fast soon after. The Tikki plant was her first challenge when it came to combining existing things together to form something new. She hadn’t checked to see if she got a second one from the chaotic one. She tried to keep practice to a minimum so as to not attract attention from Strange. 

His modified goons had managed to get a drop on her during one of her scavenger hunts that her father set up to keep her on her toes, Riddler helped out every so often to keep things spicy. This one time she had actually considered defeat when she had been ham fisted into a wall that left her dizzy. She was too late to react when she trapped within the goons gigantic fist and was carted off. 

She scowled at herself for being caught as it was premature. With her eyes closed she attempted to center herself and steady her breathing to think better. Thankful that the big oaf wasn’t crushing her so it seemed that they were tasked with not damaging her too much. Once she looked up she could see that the drones were following once again. She swore. 

Her luck decided to shine through at that moment when oaf decided to go through a tunnel that the drones wouldn’t enter and she decided to take her chance. She flexed her fingers and thought of what she wanted as her nails and tips of her fingers blackened. Once her fingers touched his flesh, the blackened liquefied and swiftly entered the oafs system. With seconds, without a beep, the oaf had collapsed. Marinette had hurriedly gotten herself out of the fist the moment it went slack. 

Breathing in relief she checked in over to make sure she didn’t leave any indication that she had done anything power related and was pleased that there wasn’t. Once sure, she slowly left the way they went in and managed to avoid the drones, She ran to Ivy’s. They needed to speed things up if they wanted things to go off without a hitch. 

\-----

It took a wee bit longer than she would have liked but finally they started to act on the plan. The Joker along with Scarecrow and Riddler had broken out and were terrorising the people of Gotham City. From what she could catch on the radio, the vigilantes had their hands full and were sufficiently distracted. 

Penguin had gathered up the innocent deemed criminals at his residence and made sure they were protected from outside shenanigans. For a price but that was to be decided later.

Two-face were happily serving court within his house of judgement. Throughout the week they had managed to herd the more corrupt police and guards in his direction to face punishment for their misdeeds. Death and death were the options and the only extreme luck was let off the hook. 

Ivy had the part to protect as she manned the city wall. Her vines sought out the mutated TYGER guards and disposed of them whilst making the others sleeping and lay down to sleep. She laid in wait in case the vigilantes came too close too early. The little Tikki plant by her side was dancing in the little breeze of night.

Marinette had taken on the majority of the men down with her as she made her way up Wonder Tower. She knew that she was being watched while doing so as those blasted drones were hovering everywhere. She growled as she leaped between the guards, knocking them out as she went. It was taken longer than she expected but she wouldn’t call for help. This plan was made to ensure she could do it herself. If a villian interfered with this part of the plan it would fall apart.

Right now Strange was Bad and Marinette was Good and Good would always be victorious in the end. 

With one last kick the last of the guards were knocked down. She flipped a lone drone off as she steadied her breathing. She listened to her ear piece and had to hold back her laughter at her father having a go at Batman. She felt her body relax once again that she didn’t feel the pain badly and her regenerative abilities had helped minimising the damage. The blood might be there but it neatly hid the newly healed tissue. 

The doors to Strange’s office opened suddenly only to have the most grotesque of creatures come walking through it. Marinette didn’t have to think as she activated the chaos and shot her clawed hands towards the thing that she could only assume was once human. Whatever it was disintegrates into ash there and then with a gasp. 

“Well… It looks like I won’t have to experiment on you too much to give you a one up” Strange looked at her with a manic gleam and a hunger in his smile. “You certainly are a marvel.”

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m just a normal girl with a normal life.” Marinette walked forward with a lopsided smile as she channeled both Trixter and Ladybug. “Normal for a gothamite anyways.”

Strange chuckled creepily delighted at that. “Yes a child born from a non corrupt person in Gotham City seems to be such a rarity nowadays. But you shall help me change that. Your father may rival Batman for now but you would actually be able to defeat The Batman once am through.” 

“Who says I can’t right now with the way I am.” Trixter swayed playfully as she made her way around the room. Making sure to keep more than an arms length away. She could already spot that he wasn’t really at the desk and was using one of his holo disks. She twirled around for a quick look and spotted at least three potential spots but need to be certain. She pouted. “You don’t go for the family or friends. You don’t go for a direct kill.”

“Owh..” He tilted his head in such a manner that he was watching her movements. “What would I do instead?”

“You overwhelm him with pressure, you stretch his responsibility so he is thinned out everywhere. Yes he has allies but they have their own things to worry about. So you wait. you wait for that thin moment to poke a hole in it and The Batman falls apart at the seams.” She was giggling as she spoke but was eyeing everywhere for a possible indication of where he was. She could hear the faint whirring outside the window, below out of sight level. “That or old age. whichever comes first”

“Well that certainly is something.” His body was tense with excitement. “Now tell me, dear bug, what are you looking for?”

“You but you knew that already. You have a habit of not staying dead, I’m going to make sure it is permanent.” 

There was a shattering of glass behind her as a Strange clone attempted to pose on her with a syringe. She sidestepped and shoved his hand towards himself that he injected the serum into himself instead. She stepped away when he collapsed and rushed towards the desk. The hologram looked terrified as it flickered only to disappear altogether when she tossed the desk through it and out the window.

She rushed after the desk and followed it out. She had become so attuned to the sound of drones that she knew the sound of a helicopter when she heard it. The desk caught the choppers blades but she had to make sure she got the man. Him falling a burning wasn’t going to cut it. She flew into the cockpit and knocked out the pilot with a kick to the face. The whirring was deafening as she whirled around herself to see Strange contemplating jumping. “It’s rude not to see your guest face to face doctor.”

“You could be the next Batman! It would be so easy!” He balked as he shouted knowing what potentially could happen next. “You were a hero once!”

“And I grew tired!” She parried as she stalked him and the falling helicopter. She gripped onto the front of his shirt pulling him down to her level. “So very tired.” 

She jumped while holding onto him that had him yelling in fear as the helicopter was above and was turned into a fiery mess from hitting buildings on the way down. They received the backlash of the explosion as they were blown into one of the more abandoned buildings. They tumbled and rolled through one of the floors and only stopped when they knocked into furniture that was left behind. 

Trixter was pleased to see that she was the first to recover as she stood up though a bit more sluggish than what she would have preferred. As she walked she popped her shoulder back into place and made her way over to where he was struggling to get up. “Sorry Doc but I can see you. No hiding off screen to hide a non death… Your end is tonight.”

He was kicked on to his back and before he could utter out a word of retaliation a blackened claw came towards his face. He screamed out in pain as the chaos entered his veins, burning him from the inside as it traveled everywhere. His body arched and twitched from the pain he was receiving in agony. His eye balls shock as he looked into her joker smiling face and all he could think about was that she would be able to take The Batman down if she put her mind to it and that was marvellous. The pain reached its peak that he could no longer feel when his body turned to ash. 

Trixter took a breath at it being over. Her body ached but she had some things to do before she could rest. She took out the custom Yoyo that her father got her as a gift for her first major plan and smiled at the memories of flying through the air. 

So with a hop and a skip, she jumped out of the building, released the yoyo and took off swinging towards the city walls. Along her travels she saw the veins take the dead and was dutifully taking them either to be composted or over the wall for the GCPD to deal with. It was a bit creepy looking. She was glad that the other villain heads were keeping their word and were waiting for the signal for the all clear. Marinette wondered how long the peace would last till there was infighting again. She flipped through the air with practised ease and landed gracefully next to Ivy. “How’s things looking?”

“Looking well. My babies have been enjoying their little job.” Ivy took note of the name for the police officer that was presented to her before sending it along. She had been taking names as the bodies were being sent over and been building a wall on the bridge with them. “Another twenty three to go through and shall be good. The ones taken to be composted, have their IDs taken off of them so I’ll give you that list later.” 

“Thanks for doing this Ivy.” Marinette sighed as she decided it would be best to lay down to recover. The sounds of chaos were making her sleepy. “I’m gonna have forty winks. If that’s okay?”

Ivy hummed soothingly as she smiled down at her. “I’ll wake you up when I’m done. Then we can call back your father and the other two. Rest easy petal.”

Marinette smiled as she curled up on her side and was greeted with the sight of the Tikki plant slinking towards her on their twisted roots. She giggled as the petals tickled her face in greeting and it took residence against her chest. “Ninight to you too Tikki. Night Ivy.”

Ivy shook her head fondly as the girl yawned and was encompassed by warmth as leaves and vines cocooned her. Ivy continued to do her work of collecting names and praising her plants for their good work. By the time the last one was delivered to the wall of the dead the sounds of bombs going off and cackling had slowly quietened down. That had her worried so she asked her plants to politely get the computer equipment needed for the next step. While they gathered the necessary things she walked on over to the cozy bundle on the floor. “Petal… It’s time for the next step of the plan.”

“Five more minutes mamaan.” Marinette grumbled as she curled in more tightly when the leaves and vines left her, taking the warmth with them. She blinked sleepily when she looked up to seeing Ivy’s amused face. She blushed. “I erm… eh..”

“It’s alright.” She chuckled good naturedly as she helped the girl off the ground. The Tikki plant swiftly scuttled away back to their pot. “You have five minutes to wake up while I get the system booted up to locate your father.” 

“Okay… then” She covered her mouth as she yawned. “Thank you.” 

Ivy chuckled again as she walked away to the computer and started searching for chaos inducers. Searching the cameras she was pleased to see there wasn’t much damage and only a tiny amount of casualties meaning that a celebratory meal was in order for that achievement. “Looks like the joker listened to you this time around.” 

“hmm?” Marinette walked over and stared at the camera footage. Buildings were intact. People were just doing their usual of running amid the chaos, injuries were mostly self inflicted that way. Some people were even running away from the bomb teeth but were swooped up by Batman’s team. She grinned knowing that her father would have to pay for the fabric she wants instead of stealing it for once. “I think Pops was gonna play with Batsy at the amusement park. Since it was his old haunting grounds till he was chucked in here. If that helps, he’s got a couple of tv cameras set up there too.”

“Ah, thank you petal. That makes things easier.” Ivy tapped in a couple of commands and all the amusement park cameras came up on the five screens. 

They enlarged Riddler’s view first. He was currently treating Red Robin like a rab rat by going through a trapped filled maze. They were cutting close when Red Robin was nearing the exit, meaning he was nearly on top of the puzzle Villain. Marinette clicked and spoke into the mic. “Hey Enigma, time to make like an omelette and scramble.” 

The Riddler blinked as he turned to see Marinette on his side screen. “Owh! That time is it? And It was just getting too. Very well, I shall head back after bedding adieu. Ta ra!” 

He tipped his hat to them and made quick work of executing his escape plan. As far as they could see before switching to Scarecrows view. He somehow managed to get Nightwing nicely dosed with fear gas and was pretty much playing keep away. Scarecrow backed himself away into a corner by a tv and nearly jumped when it fizzled to life. Marinette’s joker smile filled the screen before pulling away enough to see her giggling face. “Johnny boy time to fly like the crows you scare.” 

“Finally… I’m not as spry as I used to be.” He made quick work of leaving the room to a much confused Nightwing as they finally managed to give themselves the antidote. Only to find that the room was empty when he woke up from the fear induced state. All he could hear was a jokeresque cackle but he couldn’t pinpoint where it was. So from what they could tell was that he made haste towards Batman’s location. 

Another flip and they were next to the Joker who was cackling madly at Batman getting beaten up by his goons. He was throwing his cards taking pot shots when he could and was giggling to himself when Batman got close only to be overwhelmed again. “Oh Batsy Batsy Batsy, you're not looking so good! Maybe you should smile more! Would really brighten that whole face of yours.”

“Hey pops!” Marinette giggled along with her father as he turned to face her screen. “We’ve recalled the others if you want to land the punchline now?”

“Oh goody! I’ll see you in a bit Dollface!” He grin broadly as he held up the rest of his cards that would explode on impact. “Time to go Batsy! Head on out folks! Let’s go out with a BANG!”

His goons picked up the unconscious ones and took off running as the Joker fanned out his cards and released them in a swinging throw. His signature laughter followed him out as he escaped as he left a dizzed Batman trying to figure out what he missed. The building shook from the explosions and some debris collapsed but the building as a whole stayed strong enough that it didn’t fall down. 

Marinette smiled proudly that her father was going for pure chaotic confusion. It certainly was over flashy though as to balance out the damage he would normally cause. With a few more juggling between cameras she and Ivy could see Joker, Scarecrow and Riddler meet up and decided to take the batmobile for a joy ride back. She guessed that Arkham City was pre programmed into the car and was okay driving back here without Batman authorization. 

She felt herself relax for the first time in ages as she stood there waiting. With Strange gone the criminals could get the treatment needed for them to get better, if they chose too. While those that have been too ingrained or been painted too often as the bad guy can have somewhere to retreat to out of the GCPDs hands or the Batman’s crusades. Though there was a sinking feeling that she would be overlooking it all to ensure an easier transition. To be honest she wasn’t mad about it. If it meant helping those that helped her then she was more than happy to do it. 

Ivy had called upon a big enough leaf that they could recline on as they waited for the eventable. Down below the vines were playfully playing keep away with police officers that had made their over after hearing from Batman to check the place. They were horrified to see their comrades piled on top of one of the other blocking entries to see the state of Arkham. 

Commissioner Gordon was in the middle of calling Batman to tell him what's up when he received a nudge to his shoulder. He turned to see one of his men and was a bit on edge when it was Ivy’s vines instead. He swallowed when the vine presented him with a clipboard and a note. With a quick glance he noted it was the names of those dead on the bridge and he warily voiced what was on the note when Batman prompted him on what’s happening. 

“Your system was corrupt and failed those that needed it. Here are the people that got drunk on the power they had received by being police, that they thought they were untouchable. Which is as you can see not the case. This is a list of those people and their crimes they have committed. Dent made sure they had a fair enough trail, so justice was rightly served. You might not like these methods and that’s fine, we did it so you didn’t have to and you could continue believing we are bad guys with no morals. However we do believe in you Commissioner Gordon so we have an open line should you wish to talk about it. Signed Trixter slash Ladybug.”

He sucked in air through clenched teeth. That poor girl had made one snap decision and this is where it brought her too. “Well this is going to be a lot of paperwork. What do you make of it?”

“Clear the bridge and my team and I will head in to investigate. Heads up though as the Batmobile is nearing your location but it’s not us in it Gordon.” 

Gordon frowned as though on cue he could hear the roar of the batmobile driving in his direction and managed to side step enough as to not be bowled over when it came to a stop in front of the dead wall. “Could have done with an earlier warning Batman.”

“Be there in five.” The both of them hung up to deal with their problems.

The policemen were at the ready when the batmobile opened up revealing the three villains of confusion hour. Joker was cackling as he was reenacting one of the jokes he had done earlier. “Then! Their head went POP! oh oh oh it was glorious.” 

“Hmm.. exploding heads. I’m sure I have a hallucinogen that can induce that. They run around like headless chickens. Screaming for their heads even though they are still attached.” Scarecrow took off his burlap mask and hooked it to his waist. “Phantom limbs is such an interesting thing to study.”

“If you don’t mind gents I rather head home and catch some shut eye. I’ve been around simpletons too long today and need to raise my IQ before it gets too low.” Riddler stretched and waved up to the city wall. “Ladies! If you wouldn’t mind?” 

Ivy looked towards Marinette with her eyebrows raised. “What do you think?”

“Go ahead. They made my job easier not having to worry about outside interference.” Marinette grinned back. 

Ivy flicked her wrist and stroked a vine next to her, they happily swayed then shot forward to where the three men were waiting for a pick up. The Police were poised to attack with their itchy trigger fingers but lowered their weapons when Batman, Nightwing and Red Robin walked along the middle of them. 

“Ah Batsy! You’re just in time for the closing act!” Joker waved teasingly back at the approaching vigilantes. As he was slowly taken back to the city wall.

The other two ignored them as they were taken up and over the wall to head back to their homes. They wished the ladies a goodnight and they’ll see them at the weekend for scrabble night.

The vigilantes looked like they were about to follow but they were having trouble as the vines were swiping their hooks away before they could attach. Marinette rolled her eyes before the leaf chair directed her towards the computer equipment from earlier. She threw a knowing smile towards Ivy as she operated the system to connect to the screens with the GCPD van. 

“Commissioner Gordon. Bonjour!” Marinette kept her smile easy for once as she looked upon the greying man. “Could you keep Batsy and the birds off my walls, that would be much appreciated.” 

Gordon waved down the vigilantes and walked to the van with concern. “Your walls?”

“You heard correctly. Strange is no longer incharge or living for that matter. It was a bit tricky to be sure that I got him and his clones but we don’t have to worry about him and his corrupt experimental ways. Thankfully tricks are my fortay so no troubles there.” 

“What’s your plans? 

“Simple really. You help me and I help you.”

“We don’t work with criminals.” Batman chipped in from the sidelines when he walked on over.

“Shhh Batsy, Adults are talking.” She held a finger to her lips to sush him before speaking again. “Now as I was saying before being rudely interrupted. Is that I shall be running Arkham the way it should have been. Helping the insane be sane once again. I’ve weeded out the ones that have harmed our healing process and have delivered them to you. There will be another list with you in the next coming days as some had been listed to be fertiliser.” 

“Fertiliser… how do we know you haven’t killed innocent people?”

“Just because my father is the joker doesn’t mean I am like him with my actions. Sorry Pops.” She glanced back at him sheepishly. 

“Ah can’t have everything Dollface.” He was off screen but his hand came into view to pat her head. “If you weren’t a hero before well we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were today! Who knew all you needed was a hero on your side to actually win one day.”

“I hear things, I see things, and I research to make sure.” She gestured with her hand in a sweeping motion. “Those people should never have had a uniform. I suggest in future that you double or even triple check your enforcement to ensure something like this won’t happen again.”

“The law would have handled it should you have handed us the information to deal with matters.” 

“Please… Vigilantes are still illegal and yet Batsy and his birds stand at your side unarrested. So forgive me if I don’t believe you on that matter.” Marinette replied back matter factly. “I do trust that you are a good man trying your best though so there’s that but let’s get back on topic! Over the next few days, it’s going to be stressful with the changeover of management as you well know. The aim is to let the innocent ones out, I will send you a list of those names the day before so you are ready to handle the transition.” 

“That is possible… how do you know they're innocent?” 

“As I said earlier, I researched and I talked to them. Their only transgression they had was being good hearted and willing to put Strange out of business.” She ran her hand through her hair as she tried to focus on the task at hand. Her father and Ivy silently bickering behind her wasn’t helping. “I’ll be making sure the innocent guards and officers that are still within the hold, currently under the protection of Penguin, shall be treated fairly and will be able to continue to work as normal should they decide to do so.”

“Penguin? He’s killed more officers than I count.. what made” Batman growled out.

She growled just as menacingly and gave them a death stare. “I fucking research! Maybe you should bloody do the same!”

Batman glowered but kept his mouth shut for a bit. 

Marinette closed her eyes to compose herself. “I know you have been fighting for most of your life to take down criminals but surely even you are starting to get tired? I think you need just as much help as the people in here do. I know I did… maybe things would have turned out different… If I got the help I needed but things need to change so why can’t it now with this clean slate I’ve given you?”

Gordon looked between the two of them. It was interesting seeing an ex heroine talk with a veteren vigilante. She wasn’t wrong when it comes to Batman needing help with his mental health. He has seen the Vigliante grow and was worried for his friend. He looked at the screen and could see the silent girl from two years ago behind the layers of joker-esque make-up. Everyone comes from different walks of life and this girl was walking hers one way or another. Still aiming for good just in a different way. He nodded to himself as he decided that there was something he could work with. “How likely will this work out?”

“Quite well.” Marinette’s face changed to one of youthful hope. A smile of light of what once had the people of Paris cheering for. “Good people are victorious after all.”


End file.
